Catch for traveling-bag and gladstone-bag frames



May 13, 1930. o. H. PLOTKIN 1,758,087

CATCH FOR TRAVELING BAG AND GLADSTONE BAG FRAMES Filed Jurie so, 1927 o cdl fP/o L 'Q Patented May 13, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OSCAR H. PLOTKIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOR.TOIS. DRESNER.&SON, INQ, OF

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OLE ILLINOIS CATCH FOR TRAVELING-BAG AND GLADSTONE-BAG FRAMES Application filed June 30,

Eotally connected framesof the two baghalves to each other. independent of the locking of the bag.

The pivoted. catches ordinarily employed for this purpose are apt to snap open if the bag is roughly handled, and particularly so when the bag is heavily loaded, thereby often permitting the bagto open unexpectedly and to spill its contents. Thisobj ection has been partly overcome by constructing the catch with the hook portion slidably mounted on the pivoted and digitally movable outer part, and by forming this hook so that it will latch under the latch body which is mounted on theouter frame part and on which thedigitally movable latch part is pivoted.

In practice, such a catch construction on a traveling. bag has proven inadequate when the bag is heavily loaded and roughly handled, for the reason thatthe strains due to rough handling rnay jar and slide the hook portion of the latch out of engagement with the latchbody.v It also still leaves the further objection that the load. of the bag is carried almost entirely through the outer frame member to which the handle is secured, thereby causing part of the load. to strain and sometimes distort the hinges which connect the two bag frames adjacent to the bottom of the bag.

My present invention aims to overcome both of these objections by providing the latch with an auxiliary portion which will have a hooking engagement with the inner frame member of the bag when the slidab'ly mounted portion of the movablelatch member is moved to thesafety position in which it also hooks under the latch body. By doing this, I accomplish these purposes:

First, I provide two hooks respectively engaging the inner and the outer bag frame, thus effectively doubling the friction so as to retard any accidentalmovement of the slidablelatch member out ofitslatching. position.

Second, I connect the tops of the two bag 1927. Serial No. 202,537.

position when the bag is-supported from its handle;

Further andv more detailed objects will. appear from the following specification and.

from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1.1s a fragmentary plan view of a.

traveling bag equipped with my invention,

showing the parts of my latch on a slightly opened-bag, with the, pivoted latch member 'swungopen.

Fig. 21s a fragmentary'plan viewof a.

closed traveling bag, showing;my latch: in its safety position.

Fig. 3 isa side elevation of am upperbag;

portion, with the latch opened.

Fig. 4 is a; vertical section, taken through Fig. 3ialong the line 44.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section taken along: the line 5-5=of Fig. 2;

In the illustrated embodiment, the upper part of the bag frame'has-the usual latch, plate 1. projecting from it and adapted to underh-angthe outer bag frame 2 on. which. the latch body 3 is mounted, and. this latohplate has a sloti through which theinner end of a hook member'5 normally extends. This hook member has itsshank extending slid-ably through a slot 6 in the-lever or digitally movable member 7 which is pivoted at one end by a. pivot pin 8-. tothe latch body-3. The hook member 5 has a head 9 resting on the topv or outer face of the said lever, and is prevented from upward movement with respect to the: lever 7 by a member 10 which engages a split ring 11 extending through perforations in the shank 5 of'the hookzmemher. The member 10 preferably consists of (V1 is a curved washer which is somewhat compressed in curvature when the split ring is inserted, so that this spring washer presses the head 9 against the said lever with suiiicient force to prevent an accidental sliding of the hook member with respect to the said lever.

The hook member also has two hooks at one edge, and preferably at edge facing the free end of the lever 7, which hooks 12 and 13 are spaced from each other and from the latch body so that the upper hook 12 will snugly underhang a part of the latch body at one end of the slot 6, and so that the lower hook it will snugly underhang an end portion of the slotted latch plate 1 which is fastened to the inner frame.

The slot 1 in the latch plate and the slot 6 in the lever are both of a width slidably fitting the thickness of the hook member, so that when the latch is closed as shown in Flg. 5, the shank of this hook member alines the two bag frames transversely of the bag. The spring 10 is disposed between two downwardly extending webs on the lever and these webs normally rest on the top of the latch body 3, so as to stop the lever in the position shown in Fig. 5, and, since the latch body is fastened to the upper portion 2 of the outer frame member, the lower hook 13 prevents the inner frame member from being moved downwardly with respect to the outer frame member. Consequently, my latch when in its safety position of Fig. latches the upper positions of the two frames not only transversely but also longitudinally of the bag.

This holds true both when the bag is empty and when it is loaded, and with a load in the bag the resulting downward pressure on the bag half carrying the inner frame is transmitted through the hook 13 and the hook shank 5 to the head 9 of the slidable hook member, thereby clamping this head so tightly against the lever 7 that the hook member z. cannot slide accidentally. When the bag is set down, the length of the top member of the upper frame permits this to give slightly, thus enabling the user to slide the hook member from the position of Fig. 5 to the one outlined in dotted lines in the same figure, namely a position in which both hooks clear the parts which they normally underhang. Then the friction spring retains the hook memher in this latter position and the lever can i be swun u as shown in Fi s. 3 and 4 to ermit the lower end of the hook member to clear the latch plate 1 entirely.

The hook member desirably also has a third hook 14 extending substantially in the opposite direction from the hook 13 and disposed for engaging the part 15 at one end of the slot 17 in the top of the latch body, through which slot the shank of the hook member extends, for limiting the upward swinging of the hook member.

With two latches constructed as thus described and disposed near opposite ends of a traveling bag, and the handle secured to the outer frame 2 in the usual manner, it will be obvious from Fig. 5 that the raising of the handle will lift the outer frame member 2 and that my hooked latches transmit the lifting strain through the latch plates 1 carried by the inner frame. Consequently, the lifting strain is distributed between the two frames by means of my latches and not merely by the hinges of the bag, so that traveling bags equipped in this manner will stand heavier loads and more rough handling, besides being safeguarded against accidental opening.

The upper hook 12 on the hook member preferably has its (normally upwardly facing) latch frame engaging face considerably shorter than the upwardly facing surface of the lower hook 13 which underhangs the latch plate 1, as shown in Fig. 5. Owing to this difference in the effective hook lengths, frictional resistance is offered by both of these hook faces to deter a sliding of the hook out of its locked position of Fig. 5, so that the catch is more effectively guarded against accidental opening than any catch in which the hook member has only a single hook face in engagement with other bag portions. However, as soon as the hook member is manually slid (to the left in Fig. 5) for a distance corresponding to the engaged length of the upper face of the hook 12, no more friction is encountered by this hook face, so that the hook member is then more easily slid further until the hook 13 clears the portion of the latch plate 1 previously underhung by this hook 13.

Owing to this proportioning, I readily secure both the distribution of the load of the bag between the two frame members, high frictional resistance to a sliding of the hook member out of its latched position, and a relatively easy releasing of the latches whenever this is desired.

However, while I have illustrated my invention as including parts of a desirable shaping and have described an embodiment including numerous details of construction and arrangement, I do not wish to be limited 1 in this respect, it being obvious that many changes might be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. Nor do I wish to be limited to the use of my invention in connec tion with any particular type of the numerous handle articles which have substantially counterpart frames on their two halves.

I claim as my invention:

1. A latch for a traveling bag which includes an inner and an outer frame hingedly connected at their bottoms and provided in their upper frame members with vertically alined slots, comprising: a latch body fast on the upper frame member of the outer frame, a lever pivoted at one end to the latch body on a horizontal axis transverse of both frames, and a hook member slidably mounted on the lever and normally extending through the said alined slots in both frame members, the hook member having a hook normally disposed below the slotted part of the inner frame; the hook being disposed to underhang the part of the inner frame beyond one end of the slot in that frame When the hook member is slid to one position; and the hook underhanging the last named slot when the hook member is slid to another po- 1 sition, so as to dispose the hook for upward movement through the slot; the hook member also having a second hook facing in the same direction as the aforesaid hook and disposed for engaging the inner face of the latch body when the hook member is slid into its said position, the said second hook being effectively shorter than the first named hook, so as to reduce the frictional resistance to a sliding of the hook member during a part of the sliding movement of that member in either direction.

2. A latch for a traveling bag which has a pair of hingedly connected and generally vertical frames normally disposed one within the other and which has a longitudinal slot in the upper member of the inner frame, comprising: a latch body fast on the upper member of the outer frame above the said slot; and a latch member including a lever extending longitudinally of the frames and pivoted at one end to the latch body, and a hook member slidably mounted on the lever for movement longitudinally of the frames, the hook member being adapted to be swung downward through the said slot to prevent relative transverse movement of the two frames, the hook member having two-hooks facing in the same direction and normally respectively engaging the inner face of the latch body and the inner face of the inner frame adjacent to the slot in the latter; one of the said hooks being effectively shorter than the other, so as to reduce the resistance against a sliding 50 of the hook member during a portion of the sliding movement of that member.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, June 28th, 1927.

OSCAR H. PLOTKIN. 

